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Motherboard for a mobile CPU?

I'm planning on building a completely silent PC for none-gaming needs. Looking at what could be a suitable CPU my eyes have hit this one: Core i5 I5-520M

It's a CPU with integrated graphics unit found in lots of laptops sot it's low power and all that. Finding a place to buy the thing has been no problem but strangely I have been unable to find a motherboard to go along with it

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That's not a desktop socket, so you're probably not going to find a desktop mobo that will take it.

You could probably get a similarly quiet system (noting that even laptops have CPU fans) by underclocking a desktop processor and going with a nice quiet aftermarket cooler.

EDIT: I suppose you might be able to find a laptop motherboard, and somehow mount that inside a case. But I'm pretty sure all those laptop parts (including CPU coolers) are all pretty custom, based on the design of the laptop in question...probably more trouble than it's worth.

your probably better off going with some variety of micro-atx based system like a zotac ion, they made one that was fanless from what I remember, and that will handle pretty much any non-gaming you can come up with. it'll be cheaper too.

Thank you all for the input. Some of the things you mention was already on my mind and others does offer new possible directions. Here are my thoughts in the vain the may useful for someone else or that they may perhaps spark further input.

It used to be there were motherboards for the Mobile version of Pentiums so I hoped for something similar. Also when I look at something like the Mac Mini it must use a mobile CPU but of course that is custom Apple motherboard.

I have looked at some laptop motherboards but it does seem to be a bit of a hassle. I don't mind much about the non-standard form factor as I'm perfectly happy building a custom case but stuff like no real good way of mounting a big CPU cooler and the ports being located all over the place is not ideal.

I have looked a little into underclocking being that I have done lot of overclocking the though was not scary. However it seems rather silly to buy a fast expensive CPU, underclock it to try and get what ther are original parts made for. But maybe it's the way to go.

Rationally speaking I don't need a very fast system. After all it's mainly to let me do email and maybe act as a Squeezebox Server and run a Torrent client (Only way to get good US motor sport coverage here in Europe). The thing is I do have a fast gaming rig* on which I do those things today and I fear if it is too slow I'll just end up not using it. I'm gonna try and find some test on systems based on the Atom D525 which is a Dual-core Atom.

If only the Mac Mini was not so damn expensive I'd properly buy one of those. I have also looked at some of the copies from Dell and the like but they are not as silent as I'd like and buying and modding one seems silly.

Asus AT3IONT with a thermaltake sd100(or similar, there are ITX/micro-ATX cases for half the price) + ram & storage is pretty much everything you need. I built a similar system not so long ago. It's quiet and while certainly not performing very well it's more than adequate for what you need.

I'll likely end up with something along those lines. My initial plan was for something with more power, hence the Core i5 CPU, but having been forced to give that up now I wonder if it's to be an ATOM on a ION2 based board like the one you suggest. Or perhaps one with just the Intel "GPU" since I'm not gonna attempt 3D on it and seeing how cheap I can go could also be fun.

One detail is bugging me about that ASUS board - unlike a few other options it does not come with a external DC connector. With a DC connector one does not need the PICOPSU thing just a power brick and that saves a few $ since those PICOPSU's are a bit pricey.

I'll likely end up with something along those lines. My initial plan was for something with more power, hence the Core i5 CPU, but having been forced to give that up now I wonder if it's to be an ATOM on a ION2 based board like the one you suggest. Or perhaps one with just the Intel "GPU" since I'm not gonna attempt 3D on it and seeing how cheap I can go could also be fun.

One detail is bugging me about that ASUS board - unlike a few other options it does not come with a external DC connector. With a DC connector one does not need the PICOPSU thing just a power brick and that saves a few $ since those PICOPSU's are a bit pricey.

Decision, decisions...

the Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE comes with it's own power brick, and also a remote, costs about $20 more than the AT5IONT, but you'd save money not needing the pico-psu, and it's also passively cooled, slightly slower processor, and uses a previous generation ION chip so graphics are a little slower too, but it's probably only 20% less performance, still a great option for a net-top or htpc.

there was susposed to be a AT5IONT-I DELUXE coming out that would have the power brick, but no news on it's release date have ever come out since the board was released. my guess is ASUS scrapped it and will wait for the next version to do a deluxe.

the Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE comes with it's own power brick, and also a remote, costs about $20 more than the AT5IONT, but you'd save money not needing the pico-psu, and it's also passively cooled, slightly slower processor, and uses a previous generation ION chip so graphics are a little slower too, but it's probably only 20% less performance, still a great option for a net-top or htpc.

The performance difference is much less IIRC, not that the performance of the ION actually matters, the Atom CPU will heavily bottleneck the computer when it comes to gaming.

The performance difference is much less IIRC, not that the performance of the ION actually matters, the Atom CPU will heavily bottleneck the computer when it comes to gaming.

Gaming was never a plan and for the planed duty of mail, light surfing and acting as music server and torrent client ION does not really matter. However if I am to think a little ahead going with an ION2 there is a big difference to all other Atom based solutions and that is the platform is then able to play Full HD material. In other words the most flexible solution is an ION2 based board and there I see two candidates.

There is the Asus AT5IONT-I with it's signature blue heat sink and then there is the Jetway JNC98-525-LF looks a lot less flashy. The later is more expensive but it has an 12V DC input so this saves the need for a PicoPSU meaning in reality means the cost is about the same. The ASUS board comes with 2xSATA, ESATA and USB3 where the Jetway brings 4xSATA (two of which can do RAID 0, 1 - nice in a server).

Ignoring the graphics side of things means looking at boards with just the Atom CPU and Intel graphics and while it would save me aprox. $100 it also means no DVI or HDMI and to me VGA is getting old. The lack of DVI could be fixed in that those boards usually have an okay PCI Express expansion port but this then eats most of the money saved - on the plus side a discrete graphics card would not be limited to the 1920x1080 resolution like the ION2 boards are.

What is missing is a case for the thing and my plan is to go all DIY here. Most cases one can buy are a bit on the big side and usually comes with a front plate meant for a slim optical drive which I don't need. Instead I imagine something as slim as possible with a heat sink or two sticking out

the Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE comes with it's own power brick, and also a remote, costs about $20 more than the AT5IONT, but you'd save money not needing the pico-psu, and it's also passively cooled, slightly slower processor, and uses a previous generation ION chip so graphics are a little slower too, but it's probably only 20% less performance, still a great option for a net-top or htpc.

The AT3 DELUXE is tempting but it's to slow to play Full HD which I think is a big downside. Somehow it's not cheap enough for what it brings unless one is gonna hook it up to a 720p TV.

there was susposed to be a AT5IONT-I DELUXE coming out that would have the power brick, but no news on it's release date have ever come out since the board was released. my guess is ASUS scrapped it and will wait for the next version to do a deluxe.

LOL - I have been reading all over about that board but it does look like ASUS has killed it even before it got on the market. Likely they are waiting for the next big Atom thing supposed to come in Q2 or Q3 2011. Unfortunately I can not wait that long.

ION1 does fullHD just fine and neither ION1 or ION2 is limited when it comes to resolution, like any nvidia card you can choose practically anything the connector supports.

Edit: btw, still heavily recommend a i3 build, it'll do everything better and gives you more upgrade/reuse possibilities.

Maybe I'm misinformed about ION1 but the tests I have seen tell delivering stable 1080p is not happening on that platform, if possible please point me to a article which says differently. Also as for the resolution my post should have said 1920x1200 but going above that I can't find. This is for example looking at specs ASUS lists for their AT5IONT-I.

I like the Core i3 but it draws a lot more power than an Atom based solution so I worry about making it work without fans. An Atom D525 uses 13 watt max where the mobile version of Core i3 is 35 watt (except for the 1.2 Ghz version which is likely slower than an Atom) and a desktop Core i3 is 73 watt on top which goes the motherboard which will also eat a lot more power. Anyway I'm gonna take another look but I think it's uses to much power for me to make a system with just passive cooling. If you know of any silent Core i3 systems do let me know.

I'm not too worried about upgrade/reuse options. After I do have a gaming system as well which is getting most of the love (eg. upgrades)